Status Tour 9:00 and 13:00: RUNNING
Tour at 13:00
Report from Eldey: Even if the wind picked up and we had some brief rain showers we sailed out with high promises due to the success of the earlier tour. We made our way to the same location where many of the small fishing boats remained. After only a few minutes of scanning the area once we arrived, the black dorsal fins of the white-beaked dolphins started to appear. Roughly 3-4 where seen traveling quite restfully. We watched these dolphins for a short time before another pod of 8-10 appeared that were more energetic. In the pod was a young calf that displayed its bold nature by coming close to our vessel and performing several leaps. We stayed with this group for some time but decided to leave as to not cause any unwanted disturbance. We had a nice diversity of seabirds also on this tour, even a flock of oystercatchers that are very rarely seen when out at sea but they could also be migrating back from western europe and to do that they need to cross the sea. Always interesting this time of year as you never know what you will see migrating back.
- Sarah Kompatscher
Tour at 09:00
Report from Eldey: The strong wind formed short swells and white caps on the sea surface. We traveled with the wind and swell on our way out on the bay so the ride felt smooth and warm. We slowed down as soon we entered the area where we found most of the dolphins yesterday. Many fishing vessels were busy dragging in their catch close by, which assured us that there was still a lot of food in the area. After about 10 minutes of scanning we spotted a few dark fins at about 500 meters distance. This was a pod of 5-6 white beaked dolphins! Soon we spotted more and more pods of dolphins and at times we were surrounded by them! We must have seen at least 50 individuals in total. It is not often that we have such incredible dolphin sightings, they really gave us the best they have to offer! We saw them actively feeding, leaping, and sometimes they swam so close to us that we could see their whole bodies underneath the water surface.
-Sigurlaug Sigurðardóttir
Bird species seen on today's tours include: northern gannet, black-legged kittiwake, northern fulmar, eider duck, lesser black-backed gull, icelandic gull, glaucous gull, long-tailed duck, oystercatcher; whooper swan & great cormorant.
We are sailing out from the Old Harbour in Reykjavik. There is some wind out on Faxabay so there will be some movement on the boat. If you are sensitive to motion sickness we do have seasickness tablets free of charge at the ticket office. All our boats have inside and outside areas and to make the tour even more comfortable we provide warm overalls. Hope you will be able to join us on our tours today. For more information please contact us via phone at +354 519 5000 or by e-mail at elding@elding.is.
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